Monday December 1, 2008 - Shelby Cunningham
Video games consoles and games could be one of the few holiday shopping bright spots in this slowing economy. The category performed very well in the fourth quarter of 2007 when the U.S. recession began and DTC estimates that 49 million video game consoles will ship in 2008. Spending a minimal amount on a video game console for the home can be seen as a money saver in comparison to frequent family entertainment outings in these tough economic times. And with the frequently falling prices on the Xbox 360 over the past year, as well as the already low price of the Nintendo Wii, this is a viable option for many families.
Add in the fact that the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) play video optical discs (the PS3 even plays Blu-ray), and allow for movie streaming over the Internet, and you have an entire home entertainment center in a box.
The only console of the bunch that lacks video playback along is the Nintendo Wii. Yet with the already low price, unique product design and generations of Mario fans, Nintendo can afford to focus solely on gaming.
If and when I am ever in the market for a Blu-ray player I have already decided that a PS3 is the way to go. Multiple functionality is becoming increasingly more popular in the consumer electronics world. As is the case with the iPhone; sales are up and many owners say their phone is replacing their personal media player (PMP) as well as home internet service in some cases.
As long as Microsoft and Sony keep prices low and expand upon their console offerings outside of the video game realm they should be able to stay in the game and weather the economic storm. Giving people more options with their PS3 and Xbox consoles makes for more reasons to continue purchasing them. As for the Wii, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it; Nintendo can focus on retaining its current business model and identify ways to expand upon the platform for their next generation console and should remain on top of the video game console world.
